This project has been very interesting. It has been a great experience designing a bespoke website for a very specific clientele. The research was integral to the project, as my knowledge of running is was limited. I now feel I have a grasp on the requirements most wished for by runners using a website such as this.

Much of my time was spent reading through posts on BOSH’s Facebook page to see how their existing members interacted with the community, and how I could design my website to best suit their needs.

For example, a lot of the posts were “who is going to [this event]?”, so as a direct response I included a by BOSH attendance option to filter events, and a counter on each event page to show how many other members of the BOSH community will be present at each event.

I followed this kind of theme throughout my design. The “find a buddy/group” forms are designed to match BOSH members together, to allow people to connect through the site and feel a sense of group spirit both online and off. This will obviously come with some safety and data protection issues that will need to be addressed, but as these functions are only accessible for registered members, it will give BOSH an opportunity to get people to read safety advice and opt into sharing of information when they sign up.

When I presented my prototype, it was suggested to me that I could take the BOSHERs theme further, and allow members to see who is attending each event. This is certainly a possibility, but again would come with its own data protection and safety issues.

Overall, I think this project went well. It was definitely interesting to see how my extensive research allowed for some innovative thinking in the design phase. It is possible to come up with useful ideas based on what the user wants, and I will be using this technique in the future.

You can view my clickable prototype here, and by typing BOSH101 into the password field.